Num 11:4 Now the rifraff that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat!
Num 11:5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
Num 11:6 But now our soul is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
Num 11:7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium.
Num 11:8 The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil.
Num 11:9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
Num 11:10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of Yahveh blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.
Num 11:11 Moses said to Yahveh, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?
Num 11:12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers?
Num 11:13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? Because they weep in the sight of me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’
Num 11:14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.
Num 11:15 If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my misery.”

rose colored memories

The problem with the Israelites in the wilderness was that God’s faithfulness was not enough. They had a memory of fish and vegetables, and they allowed that memory to rule over the visible, tangible evidence that God was actively providing for their needs: the manna. Such behavior frustrated Moses to the point where he began to complain himself.

Father God, teach us to focus on your faithfulness in the present, and not to dwell on the rose colored memories of the past, which can only breed discontent.